Show pigs are not all created equal. It requires a close working relationship with a local veterinarian and meticulous record-keeping to produce a prize-winning porker.

That was the message at the Colorado Pork Council's Pork Academy held in Sterling on Saturday. The academies — Sterling's was the second one this summer — are meant to help local 4-H members who are showing pigs and anyone interested in going into pork production.

The emphasis Saturday was on new federal Food and Drug Administration regulations governing the use of antibiotics on livestock. According to a pamphlet circulated by the National Pork Board, a new Veterinary Feed Directive will go into effect Jan. 1, 2017, that forbids routine use of "medically important" antibiotics. That means antibiotics that are used to treat human illnesses cannot be routinely used in swine feed to promote growth, but can be used only as needed to treat, control, or prevent specific diseases, and then only under a veterinarian's guidance.

Joyce Kelly, executive director of the Colorado Pork Producer's Council, said the new VFD will affect almost every aspect of producing and raising pigs, but it's a welcome change.

"This VFD is good for the industry," Kelly said. "Use of antibiotics isn't an industry issue, it's a veterinarian issue."

Dr. Byron Housewright, chairman of the agriculture department at Frank Phillips College in Borger, Texas, agreed.

"I'm just going to come right out and say this: We use too much antibiotic in hog feed. I don't care who wants to stand up and argue with that, I know from twenty years in the industry, it's true."

Housewright said veterinarians should be the ones who decide whether antibiotics are used in livestock feed, not the people who mix the feed and not the people who feed it to the animals.

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"You're going to have to have a close relationship with your veterinarian," Housewright said. "That means not just driving out to look over things once in awhile; that means he's going to have to know the history of your herd, and that's going to be up to you to provide."

Caleb Christensen of C&C Showpigs of Akron told the gathered 4-H'ers and their parents that, when it comes to good porcine health, "as the saying goes, cleanliness is next to godliness."

Christensen said his operation, which produces baby pigs for 4-H members to raise and show, has a strict protocol of cleanliness and health that it follows. Isolation units are used for any animal suspected of being ill, and the pigs are as protected from exposure to human illness as they are from other livestock.

"Pigs can get the flu from people," Christensen said. "If you're sick, you can't be where our pigs are. We make people put plastic coverings over their shoes before they go out into the pens to avoid bringing in disease from other (animal) sources."

Pig owners who want to keep their herds healthy would do well to make sure show animals are kept clean, exposed to as little stress as possible, and isolated for a time when returning from a show. The trailer the animal was transported in also should be cleaned thoroughly, Christen advised.

Inoculations and medicated feed are still essential to good livestock health, all of the experts agreed, but "more is not better," Housewright said repeatedly.

Attendees said the information was valuable, but also helped them validate some practices they're already using. Jordan Gerk, who will show her second pig at the Logan County Fair next month, said she and her parents will discuss whether they need to make changes for next year. Jordan's mother, Jaci, said they'll probably look at mixing the feed differently.

"We'll take all of this (information) back to my husband and we'll sit down and see if we need to do some things differently. Certainly, the information was very helpful."

Jayce Maker, a 15 year old who's showing for the sixth year in August, said the presentations helped validate much of what he already does.

"I've been doing a pretty good job, but I learned some other stuff that I might want to try out," he said.

Speakers also presented information on good nutritional practices, how to select the right pigs for a project, and gave some showmanship tips.

Kelly said the Pork Council hopes to present two or more such academies each year around the state.

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